In Japan, lifetime employment is almost a given. Employees are protected by law and custom, so a wide scale RIF rarely happens. The company does not want to incur embarrassment or admit that they have excess personnel, which could mean unnecessary expenses that reduce profitability and thus affect the company’s stock price.
Japan has a very different culture from the US. There, embarrassment is felt both by the individual who committed the offense – even if it was only a harmless social faux pas – as well as the individual’s immediate family. It’s not unusual for the family of the offender to be ostracized and isolated from friends as well.
Americans don’t easily get embarrassed. When they face a layoff, they very often take legal action to prevent losing their jobs. Laws exist to prevent large-scale layoffs without sufficient notice. There also are laws and rules to protect civil service employees from being told to “hit the road” – even when they have violated agency rules or policies. How often have we asked, “what does it take for someone to be fired?”
The Japanese have a way to handle this: the madogiwazoku, or “the window tribe”. Employees who are unwanted or unneeded are given seats at an ordinary table (not a desk) near a window and given nothing to do. Some companies forbid these employees to use their phones during the day, do not allow them to use company resources (computers, copiers, etc), do not permit them to send out resumes or pursue other employment during the day, and restrict their movement around the rest of the company while “banished”. They sit around and read a newspaper. That’s it.
These are the oidashibeya rooms: internal banishment.
The concept works because Japan still has a culture where “saving face” is important. Most do whatever they can to prevent being publicly embarrassed due to one’s own behavior.
Employees sent to oidashibeya continue to receive uninterrupted pay and benefits so the company cannot be accused of firing someone without “cause” or causing harm to the employee’s family.
We don’t have the same culture here in the US. However, the concept of oidashibeya is workable, especially for “excess” federal employees. Conference rooms can be refitted with long tables with chairs, WIFI can be disabled, and company access can be limited to the immediate hallway and nearby rest rooms.
We already understand the concept of “nonessential employees”. We’ve heard about them several times, both during government shutdowns and Covid restrictions. Restrictions in government operations were barely noticed when those employees were told to not report to work.
If Trump is serious about reducing Federal employee headcount and do it in a way that would prevent lawsuits, it only makes sense to revisit the lists of “essential” and “nonessential” employees and to send “nonessential” employees to an oidashibeya.
“Did they fire you?”
“No.”
“Did they demote you or reduce your GS pay grade?”
“No.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“They put me at a table and didn’t give me anything to do!”
“But you kept getting the same pay and benefits?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t see the problem. You weren’t fired, you kept your pay and benefits, and you weren’t demoted.”
“But… but…”
“Thank you. Next?”
These employees should not be transferred to another agency or another job anywhere inside the Federal government. And since they cannot have an impact on how the government operates, their previous agencies would probably do better without them.
It may take time, but I’d bet that a huge majority of those employees would eventually leave government employment and thus reduce headcount without the need for formal layoffs and without any lawsuits.
